Articles | Volume 15, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3555-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3555-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
03 Aug 2021
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 03 Aug 2021
| 03 Aug 2021
Recent degradation of interior Alaska permafrost mapped with ground surveys, geophysics, deep drilling, and repeat airborne lidar
Thomas A. Douglas
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
Christopher A. Hiemstra
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
now at: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Geospatial Management
Office, Salt Lake City, UT 84138, USA
John E. Anderson
U.S. Army Geospatial Research Laboratory, Corbin Field Station 15315 Magnetic Lane, Woodford, VA 22580, USA
Robyn A. Barbato
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme
Road, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Kevin L. Bjella
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
Elias J. Deeb
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme
Road, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Arthur B. Gelvin
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
Patricia E. Nelsen
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
Stephen D. Newman
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme
Road, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Stephanie P. Saari
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
Anna M. Wagner
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 9th
Avenue, Building 4070, Fort Wainwright, AK 99709, USA
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We created a database of 19,540 thawing permafrost sites across Alaska, including both abrupt and non-abrupt thaw features and explored relationships with elevation, slope, and incoming solar radiation. We use the database to show that existing ground ice maps are too coarse to predict abrupt thaw risk. This database can enhance predictions of future thaw, improve greenhouse gas budget calculations, and guide planning and climate adaptation strategies.
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Short summary
Short summary
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Short summary
Short summary
Permafrost thaw across Earth's high latitudes is leading to dramatic changes in vegetation and hydrology. We undertook a two-decade-long study on the Tanana Flats near Fairbanks, Alaska, to measure permafrost thaw and associated ground surface subsidence via field-based and remote-sensing techniques. The study identified strengths and limitations of the three methods we used to quantify permafrost thaw degradation.
Jinyang Du, K. Arthur Endsley, Kazem Bakian Dogaheh, John Kimball, Mahta Moghaddam, Tom Douglas, Asem Melebari, Sepehr Eskandari, Jinhyuk Kim, Jane Whitcomb, Yuhuan Zhao, and Sophia Henze
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Short summary
Short summary
Active layer thickness (ALT) is a sensitive indicator of the thawing Alaskan frozen soil, which may lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, vegetation changes, and infrastructure damage. This study represents a multi-scale assessment of ALT spatial variations using observations including intensive field sampling, and drone, airborne and satellite remote sensing. Our study allows for improved interpretation of remote sensing and process-based ALT simulations for the changing Arctic.
Anna C. Talucci, Michael M. Loranty, Jean E. Holloway, Brendan M. Rogers, Heather D. Alexander, Natalie Baillargeon, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Logan T. Berner, Amy Breen, Leya Brodt, Brian Buma, Jacqueline Dean, Clement J. F. Delcourt, Lucas R. Diaz, Catherine M. Dieleman, Thomas A. Douglas, Gerald V. Frost, Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Teresa Hollingsworth, M. Torre Jorgenson, Mark J. Lara, Rachel A. Loehman, Michelle C. Mack, Kristen L. Manies, Christina Minions, Susan M. Natali, Jonathan A. O'Donnell, David Olefeldt, Alison K. Paulson, Adrian V. Rocha, Lisa B. Saperstein, Tatiana A. Shestakova, Seeta Sistla, Oleg Sizov, Andrey Soromotin, Merritt R. Turetsky, Sander Veraverbeke, and Michelle A. Walvoord
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2887–2909, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2887-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2887-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Wildfires have the potential to accelerate permafrost thaw and the associated feedbacks to climate change. We assembled a dataset of permafrost thaw depth measurements from burned and unburned sites contributed by researchers from across the northern high-latitude region. We estimated maximum thaw depth for each measurement, which addresses a key challenge: the ability to assess impacts of wildfire on maximum thaw depth when measurement timing varies.
Charles E. Miller, Peter C. Griffith, Elizabeth Hoy, Naiara S. Pinto, Yunling Lou, Scott Hensley, Bruce D. Chapman, Jennifer Baltzer, Kazem Bakian-Dogaheh, W. Robert Bolton, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Richard H. Chen, Byung-Hun Choe, Leah K. Clayton, Thomas A. Douglas, Nancy French, Jean E. Holloway, Gang Hong, Lingcao Huang, Go Iwahana, Liza Jenkins, John S. Kimball, Tatiana Loboda, Michelle Mack, Philip Marsh, Roger J. Michaelides, Mahta Moghaddam, Andrew Parsekian, Kevin Schaefer, Paul R. Siqueira, Debjani Singh, Alireza Tabatabaeenejad, Merritt Turetsky, Ridha Touzi, Elizabeth Wig, Cathy J. Wilson, Paul Wilson, Stan D. Wullschleger, Yonghong Yi, Howard A. Zebker, Yu Zhang, Yuhuan Zhao, and Scott J. Goetz
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2605–2624, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2605-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2605-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) conducted airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) surveys of over 120 000 km2 in Alaska and northwestern Canada during 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022. This paper summarizes those results and provides links to details on ~ 80 individual flight lines. This paper is presented as a guide to enable interested readers to fully explore the ABoVE L- and P-band SAR data.
Kevin R. Barry, Thomas C. J. Hill, Marina Nieto-Caballero, Thomas A. Douglas, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Paul J. DeMott, and Jessie M. Creamean
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15783–15793, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15783-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15783-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are important for the climate due to their influence on cloud properties. To understand potential land-based sources of them in the Arctic, we carried out a survey near the northernmost point of Alaska, a landscape connected to the permafrost (thermokarst). Permafrost contained high concentrations of INPs, with the largest values near the coast. The thermokarst lakes were found to emit INPs, and the water contained elevated concentrations.
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Short summary
Permafrost is actively degrading across high latitudes due to climate warming. We combined thousands of end-of-summer active layer measurements, permafrost temperatures, geophysical surveys, deep borehole drilling, and repeat airborne lidar to quantify permafrost warming and thawing at sites across central Alaska. We calculate the mass of permafrost soil carbon potentially exposed to thaw over the past 7 years (0.44 Pg) is similar to the yearly carbon dioxide emissions of Australia.
Permafrost is actively degrading across high latitudes due to climate warming. We combined...
